Girl To Country: A Memoir

Summer, self-doubt, help from my stepmother give way to a new album and words of wisdom from Patti Smith.

Hope you enjoy listening to the episode as much as I enjoyed reading it for you.

Minivans, and the men who sell them. Snow and heat and finding friends in Canton OH.

Track in this episode is Astrovan, from (spoiler alert!) Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - but that's a story for the next few episodes...

"...have you ever been to Cleveland in the middle of winter?"

Spelling tests, loneliness and snow...Dream Baby Dream.

Thanks for listening!

Recording Little Fugitive, leaning on New York. What're things like in Shaker Heights? Hello Astrovan, goodbye Nashville

Songs in this episode:

• So You Know Now from Little Fugitive
• Rode Hard, The Sugar Tree

Thanks for listening!

New York City, December 2004. Robert Quine's memorial, Shams reunion and Wreckless Eric at Maxwell's. Are things looking up, or about to get more complicated?

Songs in this episode:

• Shams File Clerk Blues, live at AS 220 , 1990 (you can watch the whole show here https://youtu.be/H9uXsljPGUE?si=CNdTWP0v10BWrM7m)
• Rode Hard from The Sugar Tree

Seeing a way out; feeling regret. Barney Miller. The things I left behind. Some of the people in this episode are gone now: Kris Kristofferson, Chet Flippo, Martha Hume. I'm glad I could remember them for a little while.

Songs used:

• I Don't Wanna Talk About Love No More from Little Fugitive (d'oh just realized I haven't put that one up on Bandcamp yet!)
• Lonesome Valley (a home recording I made for my Diary podcast, available here)

A wedding, a loss. I find myself lady of the house in a fancy neighborhood in Birmingham—so how come my daughter's living in Cleveland? Something's got to give...

Songs in this episode:

• Dream Girl, unreleased 4 track demo from about 1984
• Rode Hard from The Sugar Tree

Thanks for listening!

Mother & daughter on the road in 2004, the last hurrah?

This episode brought me to tears a few times. I cut out the big sobs. It also made me laugh.

Includes I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts live from Barry's Pub Grange Ireland by Hazel & Amy Rigby

You can watch the whole show on YouTube

"I'm not just a girl. I'm a girl with a guitar..." I wrote in Girl To City. Guitar is part of my identity, and it's not always easy how that works. A big part of it is about feeling free.

Writing Dancing With Joey Ramone, touring with Steve Earle.

Early solo version of DWJR from an interview on KUT in Austin.

Thanks for listening!

It hadn't been an easy tour...but then what tour was ever easy? Ireland, the UK; Charles tightens the screws even with an ocean between us. Back home, an ending approaches.

I don't think I realized until recording this episode how sad, and how strong I must've been back then. Thanks for listening.

“If I hadn’t been up on a stage, he wouldn’t have looked at me twice. He was the type of man who measured his self-worth by the kind of woman he was with. I was definitely not that kind of woman.
If I hadn’t been a singer-songwriter, he wouldn’t have thought he knew me when we’d barely met.
If I… if only… why do things happen the way they do?”

Recording Til The Wheels Fall Off. Gaining traction but getting weary, heading for some bumpy road...

Tracks in this episode:

• The Dealfrom Til The Wheels Fall Off
• Rode Hard from The Sugar Tree

The ins and outs of living in Nashville circa 2003...my picture on the post office wall; Angelo and Chuck, Rosie and Lucinda

• Don't Know Nothin' circa 2003, me and Tony Gilkyson on guitars

Thanks for listening!

On the road again...and again: Dallas, Dublin and a promising encounter in Hull.

Thanks for listening. Back to our weekly schedule!

Going out of print...the end of one thing and the beginning of another.

My daughter's growing up, how does that work?

Song in this episode from Til The Wheels Fall Off

Chapter Sixteen coming next week.

Homeownership, the world changed; van trouble and playing anyway

Songs in this episode

• (What's So Funny `Bout) Peace Love & Understanding live Sept 21, 2001
• Don't Ever Change April 24, 2026

Farewell to a forefather; ciao Roma; keeping on

Tracks in this episode:

• Flashback from Girl To City
• Babysitter
• Rode Hard from The Sugar Tree

Thanks for listening!

Still hanging out at the artist door - late night TV, lots of touring; Patti Smith's backstage rider.

Songs in this episode:

• Cynically Yours live on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
• They Don't Know live at Village Underground Jan 2001 (you can find that recording along with other old live & demo tracks on Faulkner, Dylan, Heinz & Me

Songwriting in Nashville: writing dates, song demos; publisher and friends

Tracks in this episode:

• Keep It To Yourself demo and cassette tape discussion with co-writer Bill DeMain
• One More Time cassette demo - Joy Lynn White and me, Joy recorded this song for her 2005 One More Time album co-produced with Kyle Lehning

Dip top cones, John Prine, Whole Wide World and a family slide show

Live recording of Cynically Yours (circa...2003?)

Rode Hard from The Sugar Tree

Thanks for listening!